Mapping Pathways is a multi-national project to develop and nurture a research-driven, community-led global understanding of the emerging evidence base around the adoption of antiretroviral-based prevention strategies to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The evidence base is more than results from clinical trials - it must include stakeholder and community perspectives as well.

23 September 2011

Using HIV medication to treat other ailments

via The Bay Citizen, by Scott James

Thirty years into the AIDS epidemic, the antiretroviral drugs that have provided lifesaving treatment for many of those infected with H.I.V. — 1.1 million in the United States today — are now being used or considered for treating other ailments.

When medications have proved safe and effective for most patients, it is standard practice for pharmaceutical companies to see if the drugs have other applications. But with H.I.V. drugs, the practice has been unusually contentious, fostering debates about questionable science, safety and profiteering, and concerns that thousands of Americans infected with H.I.V. cannot get the medications.

At the center of this controversy is Gilead Sciences, a pharmaceutical company based in Foster City. Gilead is the nation’s largest producer of H.I.V. medications (including Viread, Truvada, and Atripla), accounting for nearly half the United States market for them. The drugs produce $3.5 billion in annual revenues, with profit margins reportedly twice the industry average.

Read the rest.


[Content that is linked from other sources is for informational purposes and should not construe a Mapping Pathways position.]

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